“The Curzon is just a cottage with a bar.”
Interior of The Curzon on Temple Lane in the late 1980’s, as remembered by Pat Taylor today.
Most people will remember the Curzon in its later years, an established gay bar with two main floors and a dance area towards the rear. It also earnt itself a reputation as ‘seedy’, with soft porn on the TV as you entered and plenty of opportunities to ‘cop off’. However, Pat’s memories share with us a rarer glimpse of this place, uncovering the early stages of the Curzon as a gay bar. It was acquired by Tony Sadie, the owner of Bar Royal on Wood Street in the late 1980’s. She was asked to manage the bar for Sadie - a few years before it was renovated under new ownership which saw the opening up of the lower floor and the use of the first floor. Pat remembers it as a small room with a blue velvet seating area, a central U-shaped bar and blue patterned wallpaper. Above the seating area, a ‘gentlemen’ sign hung, salvaged from the demolition of the ‘Victoria Street Cottage’.
“Oh god, the Curzon! This dark, seedy, dim lit club with soft porn on in the background, older men perving on you… I’m really not selling it here, but it was always there. I like many really grew to love it. This reliable place you knew you could always have a good night in.”
- SHAUN DUGGAN
“Oh god, the Curzon!” is how almost everyone begins to describe this place. Situated on Temple Lane - a dark alley in the Stanley Street quarter - its red neon sign would illuminate the street and lure only those brave enough to enter. The Curzon stood as one of Liverpool’s longest-running gay bars before its closure in 2017. Shaun often remembers it for its dark and seedy atmosphere, with soft porn on the TV screens as you sat with your pint and the occasional stares from characters inside. Despite its rather ‘seedy’ reputation, there was something quite special about it. It was a venue that was always there, somewhere you could always enjoy yourself - although you might need to be a bit drunk and with a few mates to build the confidence to go in. Shaun’s memory of the Curzon is most reminiscent of the late 1990s when the bar extended into the other side. Given that most people had to be quite drunk to go in here, trying to rebuild its interior has been quite the challenge. The Curzon’s memory seems to live on through its seedy reputation and the blurry great times people had here.
